Had Star Trek gone beyond its third season, it is doubtful that Roddenberry would have permitted another two-part episode ("The Menagerie" being the only exception), or a definite concluding episode. But five-year-missions DO come to an end. And I would prefer to believe that the conclusion of Kirk and company's tour was eventful, giving everyone one final test before going their separate ways. It is very TNG to bring the series full circle back to its pilot episode. A little strange that the ship would be sent to the Barrier at this time when it is supposed to be returning to Earth. Even with warp drive, this would cause the mission to go into serious overtime. Naturally, there was no ship's counselor on board in TOS. McCoy usually tended to that stuff when he wasn't performing surgery. There's really no way of knowing what characters might have left the show, and what new ones might have joined, if the show had a long run, though. If Spock were to share Vulcan meditation techniques with a female human shipmate, Chapel would be the logical choice, I think. Would the female Romulan commander have gotten another command, after losing cloaking technology to the Federation AND getting captured, especially when she had such an enormous tactical advantage? Debatable. Maybe she is that well connected with superiors. It is intriguing to revisit what we know about the Barrier. Why wouldn't ESPers want to go there to become gods? Or, as stated in this story, be sent there to become weaponized? I always liked to believe that is was erected by civilizations unknown to the Federation who knew that the Milky Way was on a collision course with Andromeda. They just didn't know what effect it might have on alien races encountering it. Visually (and audio-wise) the episode is on a par with the best episodes of TOS, and it is gripping all the way up to the final second. I very much want to know how it will end.
Review of To Boldly Go: Part I
